"My love for H. was of much the same quality as my faith in God. I won't exaggerate, though. Whether there was anything but imagination in the faith, or anything but egoism in the love, God knows. I don't There may have been a little more; especially in my love for H. But neither was the thing I thought it was. A good deal of the cardcastle about both (41, 42)." This quote is from C.S. Lewis' A Grief Observed. Lewis reveals that he
had realized that his faith in God and his love for his wife were not what he thought they were. Yes, Lewis had faith in God but it was not until after his wife's death he realized that this faith was not strong enough to survive true difficulties. When God tore down his pseudo-faith by allowing H. to die, Lewis was left shocked
and bewildered, without an anchor to cling to. In order to learn what it truly meant to trust God Lewis had to
have everything he knew pulled out from under him so God could use His love and mercy to refine Lewis' faith. I think of the card castles we attempted to build in class on Monday. Everytime my group had the cards upright and beginning to resemble a structure, they fell down. Sometimes it fell because one of us accidently jostled it. Other times it came down of its own accord without any of us doing a thing to it. I think faith can be like that sometimes. The smallest thing can cause it to come crashing down. The slightest incident can cause us to question God and His promises. When ten of the twelve scouts sent to spy out the land of Caanan came back saying the Caananites were giants that they would not be able to defeat, the people immediately despired and became convinced they would not be able to conquer the land. God had promised Israel He would deliver Caanan into their hand and shown He had the ability to do so through the plagues in Egypt. Despite this, Israel didn't have the faith go into battle, trusting God to win them the day. Similarly, sometimes we don't have the faith to continue through our difficulties knowing that God is with us.
I completely agree with on the fact that sometimes the smallest thing can cause our faith to be questioned. Building, or should I say trying to build the card houses were extremely difficult and frustrating. I also got a lot out of it as well.
ReplyDeleteThis is so true, when we are holding onto a Word of God or looking for the manifestation of the promises of God or even our faith in God sometimes those "unexpected things" is what shakes us the most. That is why we need God daily. To help us deal with those "unexpected things" when we do not have the answers and even if we do have answers.
ReplyDeleteThe card castle building was very difficult for our group. And very frustrating. I think it's a great comparison, however, because sometimes the things we think are so strong and so steady can be knocked down and torn apart by the slightest thing. We must then decide whether or not we want to rebuild this castle.
ReplyDeleteGreat post
ReplyDelete